Tenkar's Tavern: current events

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Monday, May 2, 2011

Nine Years Eight Months is a Long Campaign

Nine years and eight months to take down Osama is way longer then any of my AD&D campaigns ever lasted...

For those that don't know, I was a First Responder here in NYC on 9-11. I lost a good friend and fellow gamer when the towers came down. I saw the destruction of that act of war first hand and understand very well that but for the Grace of God I would be counted among those lost that day.

I find Osama's death isn't as satisfying as I expected it to be. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we got him, it just doesn't close anything. The reality is we just kicked the hornet's nest.

I'm already getting text messages from other members of the service expecting this to be a wake up call for American Sleeper Cells. Joy o' joys!

Be safe. Be alert. Above all, remember America... I mean "Team America" and the song America - Fuck Yeah! (you'll have to google it - still haven't figured an easy way to link on the ipad)

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Monday, May 2, 2011

Nine Years Eight Months is a Long Campaign

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